Around 428,000 customers in Santiago, Chile, experienced a major power outage after a fallen tree severely damaged a high-voltage transmission tower at midnight on Thursday, according to SENAPRED (the national disaster prevention and response service). The outage resulted in an estimated loss of 260 MW, about 10% of Santiago’s total power demand, as reported by the National Electric Coordinator.

Enel ENEI.MI, Chile’s electricity distributor, confirmed the outage but clarified that the damaged tower is owned by another firm. Enel is collaborating with other transmission companies to restore power. The incident occurred in Santiago’s southeastern region, affecting the 110 kV Florida – Ochagavia line and impacting the Macul, Santa Elena, San Joaquin, and Club Hípico substations.

Social media showed large parts of the city in darkness after midnight. SENAPRED stated that efforts are ongoing to restore power and assured that no emergency situations have arisen from the outage so far.